September Mitzvah Maker
Imagine being afraid to be in public. Being afraid to go out and leave your house. Agoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder in which you fear and avoid places or situations that might cause you to panic and make you feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed.
Brayden Dechter , a 12-year-old 7th grader is working to raise awareness of agoraphobia for his Bar Mitzvah project. According to Brady, he decided to do this as his mitzvah project because several people in my family have suffered from various mental illness’, but settled on agoraphobia because of a story about his grandfather who never remembered leaving his house, except for his Bar Mitzvah. Agoraphobia isn’t exactly a fear of leaving their house, but more the fear of feeling trapped or helpless causing them to avoid going places or doing things.
So what can we do to help Brady?
On September 14th, at 5:30 PM take a picture of yourself outside of their home and post it on social media with the tag #livelifeproject
This simple, easy act can help bring awareness to agoraphobia and show those suffering from this mental illness life’s opportunities they may be missing out on. For more on Brady’s Mitzvah Project see his flyer below.
The #ChiDoesGood campaign was launched in an effort to show that we not only have Camp Chi values, but live by them year-round, creating a kehillah (community) filled with kavod (respect) and chesed (kindness). Are you a Mitzvah Maker or have something to share in the realm of #ChiDoesGood? Let us know so we can feature it in the future.